


Practice Makes Perfect

by mysupernaturalobsessions



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fluff, Human Castiel, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 05:06:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4551675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysupernaturalobsessions/pseuds/mysupernaturalobsessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean tells Castiel he loves him every night after Cas falls asleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practice Makes Perfect

Dean only ever told Castiel he loved him while Cas was asleep. He found this out completely by accident when he was curled up in their bed one night, sheathed in darkness and cradled by Dean’s warm body.

Dean had pressed his face into the back of Cas’s neck and whispered it softly. Cas had pretended to sleep.

He did it all the time now, pretended to sleep just to hear Dean say it.

When they went to bed Dean crawled onto the mattress behind him. He wrapped his arms around Cas’s stomach and pulled him close.

Cas yawned before snuggling in closer.

“Goodnight, Dean.”

He kissed Cas behind the ear. “Goodnight.”

Cas relaxed, trying to feign sleep and fight his tired body all at once. He evened out his breathing.

In and out, in and out. Eyes closed, but not straining.

“Cas?” Dean whispered after nearly half an hour. It always started out like that. “Cas, are you asleep?”

He kept breathing.

Dean sighed against Cas’s shoulder and the feeling made him want to shiver. But he wanted to hear those words even more.

“I love you, Castiel.” Cas resisted the urge to squirm closer to Dean as a warmth filled his chest. He was surprised when Dean sighed again, a sad sound. “I wish I could say it to you.”

Cas frowned at that. He had never considered Dean’s motivations for holding back when Cas was actually awake to hear this. He believed Dean just didn’t want to say it and, so long as the hunter felt it, that was okay.

But why on Earth Dean would think he couldn’t say it, Cas had no idea. He tensed in Dean’s arm and broke the charade.

Dean pulled back, letting a draft of cold air hit Cas’s back. It was unpleasant.

“You’re awake?” Dean whispered.

“What do you mean you wish you could say it to me?”

Dean balked, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he gathered his thoughts. “Did you…how many times have you…”

“Almost every night for the past month,” Castiel said. He turned over to stare at Dean, steady and unapologetic. “Sometimes you take too long and I actually fall asleep.”

“But you’ve never said anything.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to. I thought you wouldn’t say it if I was awake and I was right. But now I am curious as to why that is.”

“Cas, I’m not…”

Castiel threw out his hand to cut Dean off. “If you are about to speak poorly about yourself I will attempt to smite you with my ineffectual human fists.”

Dean shook his head and took Cas’s hand. “It’s just hard to say when I’ve never said it before.”

“So saying it at night is like…practice?”

“Yeah. How am I doing?”

“Good. Perfect. I think it’s time for the real trial.” Cas spoke quickly, pulling himself closer. Dean’s eyes were flicking between Castiel’s.

Dean dipped down to reach Cas’s lips with his own. They stayed like that for a while, waiting for Dean to find his resolve. He was the one to pull back an inch. He swallowed his nerves. “I love you.”

His voice came out rough and a little uncertain, but Cas smiled like nothing had ever made him happier in his whole existence. Dean breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn’t so bad, but the best part about saying the words for real was hearing them back.

“I love you so much, Dean.”


End file.
